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Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders

Treatment Overview

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an active type of counseling.
Sessions usually are held once a week for as long as you need to master new
skills. Individual sessions last 1 hour, and group sessions may be longer.

During cognitive-behavioral therapy for
eating disorders, you learn:

About your illness, its symptoms, and how to
predict when symptoms will most likely recur.

To keep a diary of
eating episodes, binge eating, purging, and the events that may have triggered
these episodes.

To eat more regularly, with meals or snacks spaced
no more than 3 or 4 hours apart.

How to change the way you think
about your symptoms. This reduces the power the symptoms have over
you.

How to change self-defeating thought patterns into patterns
that are more helpful. This improves mood and your sense of mastery over your
life. This helps you avoid future episodes.

Ways to handle daily
problems differently.

What To Expect After Treatment

You can use your cognitive-behavioral skills throughout your life.
You may find that additional "tune-up" sessions help you stay on track with
your new skills.

Why It Is Done

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is used to treat the mental and
emotional elements of an eating disorder. This type of therapy is done to
change how you think and feel about food, eating, and body image. It is also done to help correct poor eating
habits and prevent relapse.

How Well It Works

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is considered effective for the
treatment of eating disorders.footnote 1 But because
eating disorder behaviors can endure for a long period of time, ongoing
psychological treatment is usually needed.

Risks

There are no known risks associated with cognitive-behavioral
therapy.

What To Think About

For cognitive-behavioral therapy to be most effective, be sure to
work together with your counselor toward common goals. If you think you are not
working well with your counselor, discuss your concerns with him or her or your
primary doctor.

If you have a mental health condition along with an eating
disorder, your doctor may suggest medicine. Treating a problem
such as
depression or
obsessive-compulsive disorder may help you recover
from an eating disorder.

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